Rain is a good thing....only in Texas.

 This upcoming weekend we are all getting excited about our trip to Paris.  I decided that I would stay in Thursday night and get all my packing done, considering we had to be up at 5 the next morning.  Some people in our apartment thought it would be a good idea to go out...that was an excellent idea.  When 5 rolls around the next morning everyone is scrambling around trying to get ready for our cab that is coming at 5:30.  At 5:15 we hear no movement from the room that went out and decide we should wake them up.  I being the warden ( The person who yells at everyone to get ready so we aren't late) go in there and say some encouraging words that sound like " If you aren't ready in 15 minutes I will not hesitate to leave you here. "  After that is was about 5:25 and we were all heading down to get in our cab when we realize one of the girls is still not awake.  I was dead set on leaving.  Luckily for them one of the other girls dragged her out of bed and finally convinced her to get ready.  Lets just say the taxi drivers were less then thrilled having to wait on us. 

Paris Baggage Claim!

 After that whole debacle we made it to the airport in one piece.  Check in went smoothly and we headed to our gate!  Right before we are about to take off i realize that I have to ride a trolley to get to our plane.  That freaked me out, I have never had to walk up stairs to my plane.  Apparently it is common, but it was Greek to me.  On the plane there was this small child that resembled a demon.  She screamed for the entire 3 hour flight and the mother just sat there as if it was cute or something?  It's actually quite annoying.  But what can you do?    When we got to the airport we waited for Megan to get her bag; they made her check it unfortunately.  After we waited for like 20 minutes she realized something must be wrong....poor Megan she seriously has the worst luck. (She is also the one who lost her passport).  The airport tells her that her bag should arrive that night, when in reality it arrived about 13 hours before we left for florence.  Megan had to live like a gypsy until her bag got there, I felt so bad for her!   The hotel Eiffel Kennedy was absolutely wonderful, it was clean, friendly, and very accommodating!  I don't know why they say the French are rude, everyone we met happened to be extremely nice. 

Hotel Eiffel Kennedy

Once we got settled in we started to roam around the town. The first thing we did was find a place to eat because of course we were starving.  We stumbled upon a place with great food with a traditional feel.  Perfect for our first meal!  

Croque Madame!

After we walked around and got a feel for everything we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Moulin Rouge.

Gryffindor and Slytherin

We had our cab driver pick us up at 9:50 because our show started at 11 and we wanted to be there early!  We were so excited to get there, we didn't realize how freaking cold it would be.  All of us were wearing nice dresses and were completely freezing.  When we finally got into the show and were seated Madison demanded we have better seats because we were there early.  Naturally the French men were scared of her and moved us immediately!  My expectations for this show was somewhere between a broadway show and a play.  It was nothing like I expected.  It reminded me more of Cirque du Solei show.  It was a topless show with lots of dancing and strange puppet shows.  Overall it was a great/ interesting show, i'm glad we went.  Once we finally got back to the hotel we passed out immediately, we had been up for almost 24 hours!

Moulin Rouge

The next morning we had a bike tour scheduled.  Of course it would be horrible weather with rain.  Not only was there rain, but we were all poorly dressed.  While we stuck out the freezing rain in cardigans and sandals, the locals had heavy jackets and boots.  Yes, we looked like idiots.  Everyone but Ashley, Ketchup, and I decided to bail on the bike tour.  I believe they went on a bus tour that got to see some of the same sites we saw.  Our bike tour was amazing.  It was a leisurely ride through Paris, that told us all the history we could ever want to know.  I highly recommend the Fat Tire Bike Tour to anyone, the staff was great, knowledgeable, and fun.  Not to mention it was started by an Aggie (Whoop!).  

Ketchup just using some mad biking skills...

That night we decided to try to find some real French food.  Thanks to Rick Steves we found a cozy little place tucked away in the middle of Paris.  I went out on a limb and tried to the Duck!  It was outstanding!  It tasted like chicken, but a million times better.  The restaurant was such a great experience, the couple that was next to us gave us their wine when they got up to leave.  I think they were fascinated by the Americans. haha.  That night we were able to see the Eiffel Tower light show.  It was majestic and worth the wait.

Yummy Duck!

Sunday morning we were going to climb the tower.  Then we suddenly realized it would be a 3 hour wait to get up the thing.  We decided to nix that idea and go shopping instead!  The shops in Paris were so large, I felt out of place for sure.  The coolest shop we went into would definitely be the Louis Vuitton.  It was massive, equipped with so many purses it could make your head explode.  After looking around we of course became hungry, again.  We thought oh hey lets catch a bus and get some food.  That was an awful idea.  We ended up somewhere in Paris with nothing familiar around us.  Did I mention we had 45 minutes to get back to our hotel for are van to the airport?  Yeah, that stressful.  I love Paris and all, but the thought of sleeping on the street is not appealing to me.  Luckily the bus came just in time and we caught our bus.  After a 3 hour wait at the airport it was Au Revoir Paris, Ciao Italy!

Ciao Ciao Paris!